BERLIN, October 27. /TASS/. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (in office in 1998-2005) has called for a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian conflict, saying that mere weapons supplies to Kiev will not help settle the situation.

He said that Germany and France should play a major role in the peace initiative and expressed the hope that these two countries will pool their efforts at the top level to facilitate the conflict settlement "because arms supplies only will not put an end to it."

"Time for diplomacy will come again. And this can come only from Germany and France," said at an event on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his membership in the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

At the same time, he reiterated his position on the situation in Ukraine and his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I have made it clear what I think about the war - nothing. But I have no plans to change my personal relations," said the former chancellor.

In an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on October 14, Schroeder said that although he still considered Putin to be his friend, he did not support Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Schroeder is strongly criticized in Germany because of his pro-Russian position. Thus, he said in one of his interviews that political and economic isolation of Russia is impossible on a long-term horizon and the European Union, including Germany’s, prosperity will always depend on Russian raw materials. In late May, he refused to be nominated for a position on the board of directors of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom. His wife, Kim So-yeon, was fired from NRW.Global Business after accompanying her husband at a reception on the 78th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War (the Eastern Front during WWII where the former Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany) organized by the Russian embassy in Germany on May 9.